The progress these days:I´m constantly tweaking the Gamma Metroids AI. Right now they´re extremely hard to defeat. They have a couple of attack patterns, but they´re too difficult to hit, since the core is hidden deeper into the creature, compared to Alphas. And I haven´t coded the lightning attacks yet.

I have plans to redo the map screen display system. A lot of objects are used to draw the entire map, this causes a severe slowdown on older machines. I´m trying to find a way to use fewer objects (and I´m already using deactivation).

I know it´s not much progress, but work was unusually busy these weeks.Like always, comments are welcome.

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Anonymous said…

Perhaps you might consider splitting up the map for performance- maybe just two sections, the first and last 50% of it.

great job!avanzacho has long since started this project.All look forward to having the game on our PC. I am sorry to hear that there are errors with the programming of the Gamma Metroids: (. We hope that this difficulty is resolved soon. I see that is missing almost half of the project ... No matter the delay, what good is having a good game Although the delay worth wait ^ ^.

With the gammas, you should make it that if you hit there outer shell with 10 missiles, it breaks of and exposes it core completely. You can still hit it without breaking off the shell, but it takes more precision. The lightning could be there to stop missiles from damaging it's shell. That way, if your good with precision shots, you can kill one in only 10 hits, but if your not it would take 20, with the challenge of making sure the lightning doesn't stop your missiles.

@DoctorM64: Hello! ( ^ ^ ) Your work is unbelieveble. A remake from Metroid 2 and not by nintendo? I was pretty confused. You're great, keep up the good work! But I have one question: Can you add something like a bonus-level, like the bonus-level in "Metroid: Zero Mission"? I think, it would be great, if you add some extra content.

to add to anonymous' comment on breaking the shell to reveal the core to make it easier, if you did decide on that, make sure that the enemy flashes yellow and not red to indicate that you're not fully hurting him, but you're doing damage to later hurt him. and when you hit the core, just make him flash red.

I personally dont like that idea though, i rather just kill them faster and get it over with to continue the exploration.

I can't wait for this to finish, i've been going on this site since like october playing the demos and watching the previews. I just hope this is going to be a great game that I can complement on; and I'm sure it will be.

Hmmm... the idea of a breaking shell sounded good, but maybe after a few seconds after it's broken, it somehow gets it's shell back? That will make it a bit more challenging.

I agree with the comment of breakable shell. You need to remember that you're adding new concepts that the original game wasn't necessarily designed for, which will require you to re-balance various things for fairness. As someone who's been working with game design for a number of years, I'll tell you this... don't get locked down a path where you only define difficulty by either your own ability, or what you think may work at one time. Have multiple people testing the game at various difficulties to get a sense of balance, and remember that Nintendo made certain choices in the original game design after a lot of refinement. Make sure your additions don't break the flow of the game.

And yes, breakable shells are a good suggestion. Save the near invulnerability for Omegas and possible Zetas.

hey doc i dont really want 2 start a big discussion but in the main menu for the game when it does come out can you put like a code option in that does something like change the suit colours and stuff like if the shoulders varia/gravs shoulders are on without any effect on the game.its just that i was playing my virtual boy advance(just a name 4 a gameboy/gba emulator)and i saw that in metroid fusion theres cheats 2 make your suit look like the varia even if you were in the grav.and with these codes the effects of the suit that i had still stayed until i got the next suit.if u want me 2 give a easier 2 understand example i had the power suit but the suits colour looked like the suit that u get with the ice beam but still acting like the power suit.now if u still dont get that send me a personal message on youtube and i will make a vid that demonstrates it.thank u and hopefully you will have time to think about this but either way i cant wait 4 the project 2 come out.ps my youtube account is dogitalph33r as well.

as far as your map issue...you could keep the main tunnel and the queen's Lair on one map... leaving the other 4 areas on another map. If you do that I'd suggest the ability to switch between the 2 maps

I like the breakable shell idea, too. However, maybe it should leave some of its shell on, which would not only give the Gamma some protection even after its shell has been blown away, the respawnable shell idea could make a bit more sense. (That is, with a remaining shell there, after a while, a regrowth style animation will follow, looking like the remaining shell is expanding to cover the exposed areas.) Also, maybe lower the shell's defense to 5 missiles. However, I worry about missile usage. I don't remember how many missiles Samus could have by the time she encounters her first Gamma Metroid, but I'd say 20-25 Missiles could be probably be enough stock for a Gamma Metroid battle, with respect to missiles that may miss or get blocked.

I just found about this project last week and I finally had the time to play catch up and read all of the posts about your game.

First and foremost, EXCELLENT WORK!!!

I am a diehard Metroid fan since "Super Metriod." "Metroid II: Return of Samus" is the only story in the series that I haven't experienced yet. I almost fell off my chair when I saw the trailer for this game while looking for info on "shine sparks" from "Zero Mission." My only problem is I have a Mac. But, no worries, I blew the dust off of my old Compaq. Now I just need to refresh the hard drive and install a copy of Windows Xp, I don't think I'm alone when I say Vista sucks (I didn't get a Mac for no reason).

So any way, I do have some things to point out to you.

1. In Super Metroid, the Spazer and the Plasma Beam would not work together. Do they stack well in this game or will they hold true and oppose each other?

2. I read somewhere that you are not stacking the 3 suits. That is kind of weird considering they always stacked in every entry in the series. I know this is your game and you are putting your spin on it, but I personally think that the suits got to be left alone and made the way they always have been.

3. I think it would be cool for you to add a weapon or an ability to Samus that you have created. Something that has never been seen in a Metroid game, 2D or 3D. That is probably easier said than done though, huh?

4. With the pick up locations on the map, will there be a marker to let us (the players) know there is something there to grab? I don't mean the Chozo statues, I'm talking about the many missile and energy expansions scattered about. And if you are planing it, will it be like "Zero Mission" and "Fusion" with the circle and it turns to a dot as the item is collected, or "Super Metroid" and it is a dot regardless whether the item is picked up or not?

5. Maybe some extra bosses? I'm not saying Ridley or Kraid, but something more... maybe just more metroids in your new expanded areas?

The last thing I must say is simply this; you can't rush greatness! the longer it takes you, the better it will be! You will never hear me complain that a game is taking too long to be released.

I also like the idea of a breakable shell, or at least a partially breakable shell (blasting off the armored tail, making it have vulnerability on the entire bottom like an alpha, instead of just the bottom front (which I'm guessing from the way the old gamma looked)

Also, in the original, the gamma had to pause in order to do its electrical attack, which leaves it vulnerable to counterattack. A good strategy would be to run in close, to trigger an electrical attack, then run out of range of the electric and blast the soft spot.

I'd say program out a rough version of the full behavior first before you decide to tone down or amp up stuff.

Oh and for fellow Mac users, Bootcamp and Windows XP works wonders. I wouldn't have bought a MacBook Pro if I couldn't run windows stuff like Gamemaker and various rom playing stuff.

Quote - Palamon - "Oh and for fellow Mac users, Bootcamp and Windows XP works wonders. I wouldn't have bought a MacBook Pro if I couldn't run windows stuff like Gamemaker and various rom playing stuff."

It comes standard with OSX (Leopard). Bootcamp partitions your hard drive into two separate computers, your Mac and your PC. When you boot up your computer, you choose which one to boot up, so when you boot up windows, it runs exactly like windows. I'm not too knowledgeable about doing stuff for earlier OS. Another option is running Parallels on your Mac which creates a virtual windows machine which runs while you run your mac, so no bootup is required, but it is slower then booting up in windows. The best part is, if you screw up windows side, it doesn't mess up your mac side.

That's about all I know on the subject, hope that helps. I know it helped me enjoy this game on my computer.

Dear Lord, after the Omega Metroid on Fusion, I can't go back to seeing those cheezy floating Omegas and Zetas. Please tell me they're gonna be bipedal, plea~se? I imagine an alien T-Rex for Omegas and an alien Velociraptor for a Zeta, but that's just me. Anyhoo, I'd suggest more exploitation of Ice Beam against Metroids of all kinds. for the sake of continuity. To expand on what people are saying about breaking the Gammas' shells with missiles, maybe you can exploit a weak point by spamming the Ice Beam. Another cool suggestion would be a paralyzing electrical tendril instead of a dinky little 'whip' or whatever it was.

I don't know what "too hard" is, but hey, progress is progress. I'm excited to see how the newer physics works in action, but it's important to not burn yourself out on this thing. Taking your time can yield just as many great results.

I think it's better if they are a little hard to hit, as long as it's not impossible. But then again, I played almost all Metroids, so I wouldn't have any problem.

If you are thinking of making the easier for the newer players, then leave them as they are (hard to hit) on the higher difficulty settings. You've already stated that the game will not be difficult, just leave a small challenge for more experienced players.

As for the breakable shell idea... Well, it would have to be balanced. I'd have to try it out to give an opinion. Assuming you're considering the idea: Maybe you could just include it only in some difficulty options, or feature it in a new demo to test it, if you're making another version.

I too am curious how the armor thing is going to work. Are you going to split up each individual power? like you have to choose between heat resistance and the negation of water resistance?

Or is it like you can switch wich suit you want at any time (once you collected the suit) and make it harder for yourself by using for example the power suit instead of the varia suit when not in hot areas?

say... you should save the "ancient sewers" theme for the game... the place that is a water treatment area, the third ruins... it was one of the best themes (apart from the beginning area) on metroid 2. or... send a sample of the music to participants you trust so we can rate 'em. or just do as you please =P it's still awesome either way

QUICK UPDATE:Gammas are a lot more balanced now. They don´t rely that much on charging against you like the Alphas, and they usually hover a little higher. This opens attack opportunities if you manage to avoid the Gamma´s own attacks. So, there´s no need for breakable shells. By the time you reach Gammas you have plenty of missiles, so there´s a fair chance you´ll defeat them.

They are gonna be ground based bipedal creatures. Zetas might have a hover/jump attack.

>se supone que deberia haber un link para ver este avance en español

En el post en español está la noticia, en la parte de PROGRESO.

>as for the maps, split them two 2-3 areas.

No need. I redid the map screen, now instead of a ton of objects, it´s displayed with a ton of tiles. It´s really faster.

>1. In Super Metroid, the Spazer and the Plasma Beam would not work together. Do they stack well in this game or will they hold true and oppose each other?

They stack like in Zero Mission. Plasma Beam reduces the damage a bit, so you´ll have to make sure to hit the target continually.

2. I read somewhere that you are not stacking the 3 suits.

It´s weird, I know. But it´s a lot more practical. Stacking can lead to just three combinations, since Power Suit is, AFAIK, always enabled. The only weird combination would be Power+Gravity, and it doesn´t make much difference. Having three separate armors make things easier to understand for the player, and easier to make for me.

3. I think it would be cool for you to add a weapon or an ability to Samus that you have created.

Maybe in a future project. I took some tiny liberties in the gameplay (I guess you saw the last video), but I want this game to be as close to M2 as possible.

4. With the pick up locations on the map, will there be a marker to let us know there is something there to grab?

It´s not implemented right now. But I could add it, even if it makes exploration a lot easier.

5. Maybe some extra bosses? I'm not saying Ridley or Kraid, but something more... maybe just more metroids in your new expanded areas?

Sweet! I'm glad to hear that the Gammas won't need the breakable shells idea, after all.

What's the plan for Omega Metroids? Since there is a lot more room in SR388 than in the BSL space station, maybe the Omegas can jump and cause quakes when they land. Are you using Fusion's Omega Metroid sprites? I was thinking the Omegas' move set can be based off of Fusion. In addition to the close-range slash, which could deal a lot of damage, they could walk a bit faster. Also, when Samus is too far for a close range slash, the Omega Metroid will then shoot fireballs, which would block any incoming missiles.

Heh. I need to stop being so specific and detailed about my suggestions. My imagination likes to work in overdrive.

@Animus01; it would be practical and more understanding if DoctorM64 used the omega from fusion, but it would not fit the style of what hyrule_swordsman has. this is a remake of the game with MZM graphics, It would be okay if you used one or 2 from fusion (depends on what it is) but the omega from fusion just wouldn't work. say doctor... will you fix the acid diving thing? so we don't skip areas and stuff?

@rodrigo; I am putting boostball in my game, so it will be shown in mine. doctorM64, if you were to add boostball, wouldn't you be able to boost off walls? and- oh, thats right, you never played the prime games, nvm.

I'm pretty sure that the Boost Ball was just a way to mitigate the problems inherent with using the Speed Booster in a first-person perspective. And with the ability to shinespark as a ball, it seems superfluous. BTW, Doc, will there be Power Bomb/Beam combos and the Crystal Flash?

Yo! I didnt read all of the coments so I dont know if some body allready thought of this. Heres some spur of the moment ideas:

1) The gammas are bigger, so make them slower, maby take away the ramming attack2)Because there so hard to hit, if you miss the core and hit there head, maby that could stun them but not actualy hurt them, giving you a better shot3)They actualy have arms now, so maby they could grab samus and use that to suck her energyz with, or much later in the game, they get smarter, and they grab samus and drop her over a hazurdus(misspelled) area. (lava,bad plants)4)these are metroids were dealing with! An extreamly dangorous being, not to mention its 3rd form. So dont make them to eay ether.

The first image shows what happens when you are climbing up a ledge to a narrow passage and just before you morph an enemy hits you. You are left unmorphed inside the wall. It is possible to easily get out, and I wasn't able to go through walls.

The second one shows that the "spacejump sprite" (since I think it is the one that is usyally used for spin jump after you get the spacejump), drawn with transparency while pseudo screw attacking, spins the wrong direction when facing left.

Third one shows sharp edges for one step when shooting dirt.

Also when pressing the map button during the room changing translation it gets a bit messed up at the end.

When arriving a room the view doesn't immediately move to samus. (When on the right side of the room, the view manages to show at least 1 frame of the middle of the room while moving to samus.)

If you somersault to an enemy while having the speed booster on, you both take damage. (I think you shouldn't.)

Enemies could go outside rooms (should they?), and I'm not sure, but I think I saw 1 frame of samus only having her legs when unmorphing mid-air. (I couldn't manage to repeat it.)

You might have already fixed some of these, but I did not post this to say he'd be a bad programmer. Only to point out some errors. I visit the blog almost every day to read new comments (4 times today already), and I'm very happy about this project.

I'm kinda glad the shell idea didn't continue, that would have been a big deal. I also don't support the idea of scan visors, or boost ball, or any Prime power-up. Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games ever, but I don't think those abilities would fit a 2D Metroid, much less this one, since it's a remake.

@ZasYou should use a Feed Reader to check for new comments, like Google Reader.

when i asked about the scan visor, i did not mean the metroid prime one. that would be too much work. but the super metroid one would be nice, as he said items would not show up on the map screen like in metroid zero mission. and using power bombs to search rooms is well and fine if you plan to check one or two rooms. but not if you want to search an entire area. then it gets tedious and annoying to expend ammo just to find that one elusive missile

Hey DoctorM64 It's Darren! I recently got blogger for something i'm working on, so I thought i'd at least leave you a post.

I like the difficulty level of this game, I always like a good challenge when it comes to Metroid. You're doing a fantastic job, and by the looks of what everyone else is saying here, they all agree too!

But I understand how difficult it is to make a game, the pressure you're under to complete it and the demand of the fans. For that alone, you have my respect.

Keep up the great work and I hope we can chat again further sometime! :)

Back to the X-ray scope. Visors of any kind have no place in the 2d games because they present a conflict of aesthetics. The Prime games are about exploration and interaction with your world. Fine and dandy. The 2d games, however, are about exploration and annihilating your world.

The Prime games are meant to be taken slow, while you take in the sights, but the 2d games are meant to have you search every area with as much brevity as possible. If you finish a 2d game as quickly as possible, then they provide you with that X-ray visor that sees right through her suit, so to speak, but you can't beat a Prime game in less than 2 hours. They rate you on how much your scan and collect.

The 2d games are all about action, plain and simple, but they're still tweaking their style.

Take Super Metroid for example, with its X-Ray scope. Essentially a precursor to the Scan Visor in Prime Games, it would temporarily disable one of the graphics layers and show hidden passages and destroyable blocks. Yes, it was a huge help, but you had to stop and select an icon (and I am aware that you can switch on the fly) in order to use it, you had to be stationary, it moved way too slow (although there's also such a thing as way too fast and the margin between the two is very slim) and you had to disable your sprint (also unnecessary in my opinion).

In later games, they got rid of it all together. Why? Because the development team knew it just didn't fit.

Now, I'll detail a few points as to why any visor/scope of any form is not needed.

a)Style and Aesthetic: Primes are walks through the park. Combat less about shooting (MP3 notwithstanding) and more about stopping to smell the roses or Bloodflowers, or whatever. 2ds are about running and gunning.

b)Pacing: Ties in to a. The visor wouldn't fit with the GBA control scheme, which as far as I know, is what the Doc is going for (if you are planning on changing it, please don't, i'ts perfect as is.). The scheme is designed so that you should never have to stop running to do anything.

c)Philosophical Quandaries: Samus's point of view is not a camera focusing on the side of her body. So, why would the camera see in the infrared spectrum, or in a radiological spectrum? You'd probably have to make a beam shoot from her eye and have that and only that display in the respective visual spectrum, which, in short, would be a total b****.

Wow, I had no intention of writing an essay, but here you go. Visors don't belong. At all. Yeah.

@Rodrigo and anonymousI am sorry, its all my fault. I was just remarking about boostball being in my fangame,and I was not trying to advertise it... just saying. that was the only time I said anything about it, thanks Rodrigo also. now back to the matter at hand... yes, visors do not belong, but what about power bomb? does that really belong? just think about it....

i agree, items like that should be for console games only, like super metroid, and the prime games. besides metroid 2 is more of search and destroy mission then investigating a distress beacon like most of the other games

I understand that some might delay the project. But the public also wants to have a demo where we show the new options and movements of the game, in addition to new music. I would post a demo that would end after the first fight against the metroid alpha.

As far as officially released Demos used to advertise the game, I don't think there is a need for another one; The first demo accurately shows the quality of the work being done as well as the general style and physics of the game while not spoiling anything for the actual release. I think Screenshots and short videos are more than enough to track progress and wet our taste buds for now until the completed game is released.

That being said, locally released Exe's of just play-test rooms which are quickly put together in order to test out various ability mechanics, enemy design, etc. would be a good idea to gain feedback from everyone here on stuff that the Doc wants an opinion on, like are the Gammas too hard. Plop the samus object in a square room along with a Gamma object, make an exe, release and see what everyone else thinks.It's not pretty, but as Zas demonstrated, any bugs will be found.

I see that have been altered too much for my idea ...But I do not think you take much time to do a demo Doc only until the first battle against a meter alpha.So do not get angry much, well if you do not like to get a demo because they do not receive it but I know I've heard many fans who wanted the project to have a demo of the game to see more detailed development and enjoy it ( apart from me).

>I found some glitches/errors while playing Confrontation 1.1.>The first image shows what happens when you are climbing up a ledge to a narrow passage and just before you morph an enemy hits you. You are left unmorphed inside the wall.

I received an email a couple of weeks ago showing that same glitch. I solved it by making samus invincible just for the climbing animation.

>The second one shows that the "spacejump sprite" (since I think it is the one that is usyally used for spin jump after you get the spacejump), drawn with transparency while pseudo screw attacking, spins the wrong direction when facing left.

Oops. That was a missing minus sign. Fixed.

>Third one shows sharp edges for one step when shooting dirt.

That has to do with deactivation. The dirt blocks are updated when shot, but if they´re away from the screen border, they aren´t processed. I´m still trying to figure how to fix this.

>Also when pressing the map button during the room changing translation it gets a bit messed up at the end.

I couldn´t replicate this one.

>When arriving a room the view doesn't immediately move to samus. (When on the right side of the room, the view manages to show at least 1 frame of the middle of the room while moving to samus.)

I had to fix this bug when I expanded the transition system. When I added a crossfade transition for the map screen, this bug was even more evident. Now the camera is placed correctly.

>If you somersault to an enemy while having the speed booster on, you both take damage. (I think you shouldn't.)

Speed booster deals damage via an external object. If conditions are right, you can get hit. I´ll make samus invincible during speed booster to prevent this.

>Enemies could go outside rooms (should they?), and I'm not sure, but I think I saw 1 frame of samus only having her legs when unmorphing mid-air. (I couldn't manage to repeat it.)

I think they should... I don´t remember how enemies behave regarding this on the original metroids.

That was a great playtest, thank you very much!!!

>Wow, I had no intention of writing an essay, but here you go. Visors don't belong. At all. Yeah.

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